15 Years Away...Starting Again

[Bertoxxulous]

Hey All,

I got the nostalgia bug pretty hard and want to return to EQ after a 14 year sabbatical. I'm thinking of playing a bard because of their versatility in solo/group/raid settings.

I have 2 simple questions!

1) Is swarm kiting illegal/frowned upon? I've found nothing on the threads that would indicate I can't do it, but don't want to violate anything I may have skimmed over.
2) Is it inappropriate to reach out on the forums here for cheap (re: basically free) instruments or to look for loaners?

[Bertoxxulous]

I lied. I have a 3rd question! What guilds are out there that have good variety of players for grouping? I imagine OOC is not the best way to get groups on p99.

[Bertoxxulous]

Swarm kiting does not exist here due to GM negligence.

We have PBAoE kiting with an artificial limit of 25 mobs. As in max 25 mobs can be affected by a PBAoE song/spell. This limit was placed upon the server to limit douchebaggery so go forth and sing if that's your thing. Bards are still extremely versatile in all the other aspects of which you might be familiar with.

That's unfortunate. I'd say 25 still constitutes a healthy swarm, though, so I may still give it a go. I know mages/enchanters/necros/druids are all strong in their own right, but when forced to solo, swarm kiting sounds/feels so much more exciting than pet tanking and quad/fear kiting.

I notice that the server population for blue ranges from 700 to 1,300 - is grouping a nightmare or is that plenty to span the more populous xp dungeons (solb, guk, kc, etc.)?

[Bertoxxulous]

Makes sense. I just worry about the size of the community. The pick up group aspect of the game seems like it will be much harder to do with 1/10th the population of a server during EQ classic, or whatever the ratio may have been. :)

[Canelek]

Actually, you may find it quite crowded. It is just that people aren't as spread out compared to Live Velious. There is a huge min/max aspect now, due to so many having been here since the server's inception.

That said, you will find a ton of people in the popular zones, as listed above.

A drawback is that during prime time, it may rare to find popular camps open, but that was often the case on live as well.

And as far as your original 2nd question, don't worry about any of that. The economy here makes it so that you may buy low level (and some mid-level) gear for extremely cheap. As a bard, if you want to make elf-pals, be a good group mate and have a good time. Bards are a huge plus in most groups.

[Bertoxxulous]

Actually, you may find it quite crowded. It is just that people aren't as spread out compared to Live Velious. There is a huge min/max aspect now, due to so many having been here since the server's inception.

That said, you will find a ton of people in the popular zones, as listed above.

A drawback is that during prime time, it may rare to find popular camps open, but that was often the case on live as well.

And as far as your original 2nd question, don't worry about any of that. The economy here makes it so that you may buy low level (and some mid-level) gear for extremely cheap. As a bard, if you want to make elf-pals, be a good group mate and have a good time. Bards are a huge plus in most groups.

That all makes sense. I imagine most of the people who play are very well versed and I would guess people naturally gravitate towards those particular areas. I'm okay if I don't get all the super best camps, I just don't want to solo grind to max level.

I appreciate any other input, but meanwhile, I'll be making a bard real soon! I have a vague recollection of how initial points should be invested into stats - can anyone hook me up with a solid bard cookie cutter?

[Mixednuts]

I got you man, enjoy. (https://img1.etsystatic.com/167/0/5320828/il_570xN.1230859253_s2x0.jpg)

[Quinas]

Makes sense. I just worry about the size of the community. The pick up group aspect of the game seems like it will be much harder to do with 1/10th the population of a server during EQ classic, or whatever the ratio may have been. :)

I thought live servers in-era were more like 2000-3000 at peak?

[Bertoxxulous]

I thought live servers in-era were more like 2000-3000 at peak?

No idea. I just made up a number. If 2000 was in era then the 1200-1300 I see on during peak hours is pretty solid. It hasn't been a problem yet - already level 25!

[EpicAdventure]

p99 a bit more crowded then any live servers I played on. Id put live at 500-1200 online max durring the hey day of eq, maybe most highest pop servers with a que were higher

[Bertoxxulous]

p99 a bit more crowded then any live servers I played on. Id put live at 500-1200 online max durring the hey day of eq, maybe most highest pop servers with a que were higher

That doesn't feel right because I remember random nights there'd always be dozens of people in sebillis. This is all "feel". It's possible that it's all concentrated in EC and such because of the age of the server.

I wish there were a verifiable way to determine what the in era population was. I've been unable to find.

[Lojik]

p99 a bit more crowded then any live servers I played on. Id put live at 500-1200 online max durring the hey day of eq, maybe most highest pop servers with a que were higher

pop on live servers (at least on bertox) was much higher than it is here. Like others have said though, years of kunark farming and years of knowledge farming have made content here trivial. People only want the efficient xp/loot spots and they want to do it with efficient groups (think enc/cleric duo instead of full group.) The ideal spots will be "taken," but instead of "taken" on live where one group might camp two or three static spawns in a dungeon, two or three people might claim an entire half a zone, or at least try to.

South Karana was a zone I vividly remember camping on live in kunark era pre velious. Usually 75-100 people in that zone, you'd have to find a specific tower or something with a group to claim at aviaks. Don't think I've seen a single group camping the roof on p99, which was considered one of the better camps back in the day.

1-50 there are plenty of places to go xping that you can pull to your hearts content here, just be ready to pull people along cause 90% of lfg people will be in about 4 zones.

[Pope Hat]

Swarm kiting does not exist here due to GM negligence.

We have PBAoE kiting with an artificial limit of 25 mobs. As in max 25 mobs can be affected by a PBAoE song/spell. This limit was placed upon the server to limit douchebaggery so go forth and sing if that's your thing. Bards are still extremely versatile in all the other aspects of which you might be familiar with.

I did not know this...so that means chardok aoe is gone as well? Can I actually group/solo in that zone now?

[Ortnit]

You certainly can and the experience isn't bad as well. I recommend bringing your own group though, since the zone is usually quite empty.

[Thyil Wynterwolfe]

on Morrell Thule we had several thousand. 3-4k was average server pop.